OT: Carolina RailHawks to Rebrand, Push for MLS Bid

[Navin R Slavin]

Hockey is more popular than Soccer here...

Unless you mean your own living room, I don't think this is a factual statement you can make.

At the youth level, soccer is *ridiculously* popular here -- and put an MLS team head-to-head with an NHL team, and I think you'll find that it's just like every other sport: popular when they win, not so popular when they lose.

 

[HisIceness]

Hockey is more popular than Soccer here and our Hockey attendance has been awful recently. I'll support a team if it's in Charlotte or Raleigh, but I don't think we have the fan base. I hope I'm wrong and getting a team grows new fans of the sport. That being said, Raleigh has made a stronger bid than any of the cities looking for an expansion team.

As a Charlottean, I would much rather Raleigh get this team. I think that overall interest in Soccer is just better in the Triangle and that the team would have much better fan support long-term than Charlotte. Once the novelty wears off, most people here won't give a **** anymore and will go back to caring about which Linebacker the Panthers will take with the 14th overall pick. And if in 5-10 years MLB decides to award Charlotte an expansion team thats just going to hurt the MLS team even more.

The only advantage is that Charlotte already has Memorial Stadium built, they would just have to convert it whereas Raleigh would have to build from scratch. But here's where Raleigh wins again, privately built vs. publicly (partially) built.

 

[GindyDraws]

You know, given how crappy NASL is, I'm sincerely hoping North Carolina FC & my club, Indy Eleven, bail for USL next year.

 

[DaveG]

You know, given how crappy NASL is, I'm sincerely hoping North Carolina FC & my club, Indy Eleven, bail for USL next year.

I'm thinking that might be likely at this point as is, even if the two sides don't get approval to be an MLS expansion team,

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Neither Raleigh or Charlotte made the cut in the first pair of cities that will be announced on December 6th. MLS will select two of Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, or Sacramento in that round. North Carolina FC's ownership says they're still in the running for one of the other two expansion slots to be named at a later date.

Raleigh misses cut for 2017 MLS bids

 

[JCLA]

 

[JCLA]

I'm thinking that might be likely at this point as is, even if the two sides don't get approval to be an MLS expansion team,

Also this is extremely late - but this did happen

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Yeah, that's pretty consistent with what has been said all along, that they weren't really in the running for the 1st round.

 

[Breakdowns]

Neither Raleigh or Charlotte made the cut in the first pair of cities that will be announced on December 6th. MLS will select two of Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, or Sacramento in that round. North Carolina FC's ownership says they're still in the running for one of the other two expansion slots to be named at a later date.

Raleigh misses cut for 2017 MLS bids

Nashville fans could be great for soccer.

 

[HisIceness]

Neither Raleigh or Charlotte made the cut in the first pair of cities that will be announced on December 6th. MLS will select two of Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, or Sacramento in that round. North Carolina FC's ownership says they're still in the running for one of the other two expansion slots to be named at a later date.

Raleigh misses cut for 2017 MLS bids

Not terribly surprised here. I don't think Charlotte is a good fit long-term for the MLS, plus the public (especially the ones who have been here long enough to remember the debacle that was the new Charlotte arena in the early 00's) probably isn't interested in helping to foot the bill for another sports stadium. Said it before, but Raleigh IMO is the better fit for the MLS. But I guess it's just not the right time.

Cincinnati/Columbus would make for an instant rivalry. They can also handle that better being in the same state than Charlotte/Raleigh could.

 

[Svechhammer]

Digging up this old thread, because of the main story on WRAL right now

NCFC's Malik will announce $1.9B plan for multi-use soccer complex next week

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Football Club's multi-year drive to build a multi-use soccer facility in hopes of landing a Major League Soccer expansion franchise will get a boost next Tuesday morning when the club unveils plans for a 20,000 seat stadium in downtown Raleigh.
Steve Malik, the owner and chairman of the NCFC, told WRAL TechWire that he is partnering with Raleigh developer John Kane for a project that Malik said will cost $1.9 billion.
The stadium will be the hub of a sports/entertainment and mixed use development, Malik said.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

"I’ve been asked do I think we’re the next slot. No, I do not. Do I think we’re a top 36 market for MLS? Yeah, absolutely, and every other major league in our country has gone up to 36 teams."

Dude, literally no other major league has more than 32 teams. WTF are you talking about? Can you not math?

 

[Chrispy]

"I’ve been asked do I think we’re the next slot. No, I do not. Do I think we’re a top 36 market for MLS? Yeah, absolutely, and every other major league in our country has gone up to 36 teams."

Dude, literally no other major league has more than 32 teams. WTF are you talking about? Can you not math?

I'm hoping that's a mis-statement on Malik's part. If he believes MLS will go to 32 and Raleigh is in 29-32, this make sense.

If he really thinks Raleigh is in 33-36, this stadium makes no sense at all.

 

[Svechhammer]

Sounds like he wants to build this regardless of the MLS bid.

But even that said, if we can break ground on this soon, a Soccer Specific stadium at MLS standards would probably line NCFC up for the MLS in the next round, and certainly distance it from the Charlotte bid that is planning to only use BofA Stadium.

 

[FreshSeabass]

Very cool! I cant say i would ever go to a game because soccer is the most boring sport ever but still cool. Kane is single handily building Raleigh's down town.

 

[DaMillers]

Can it have a retractable roof and be a mixed use Soccer and Hockey stadium? Dundon, get on it!!

 

[vorbis]

if it’s going to be a triangle bid vs Charlotte and David Tepper, I gotta say I don’t like Kane’s chances. Tepper is a legit heavyweight with biiiiig ideas.

 

[Canes]

1.9 billion dollars? I know it's more than just a soccer specific stadium but that still seems awfully expensive. For comparison, Jerry World in Arlington cost 1.5 billion. Even the new Braves' stadium, SunTrust Park and the development around it cost about half of that.

 

[CandyCanes]

Bummer looks like this site location is about 1.5 miles south of downtown.

 

[The Jerk Store]

Bummer looks like this site location is about 1.5 miles south of downtown.

It isn’t downtown in the strictest sense, but it will be in an urban environment. Sort of like North Hills meets PNC. There are some big redevelopment plans for the area just south of downtown extending all the way to Tryon road. In a few years this will be a desirable area.
https://www.raleighnc.gov/content/PlanDev/Documents/UrbanDesign/SouthernGateway/SGCSFinalReport.pdf

 

[tarheelhockey]

Very cool! I cant say i would ever go to a game because soccer is the most boring sport ever but still cool. Kane is single handily building Raleigh's down town.

Count me in as someone who has zero affinity for soccer but would still be happy to add another major(ish) league team here. MLS just makes so damn much sense for the Triangle.

 

[HisIceness]

Thats an interesting location. I like the other location better as it would finally get rid of that ugly-ass government skyscraper monstrosity. Although if this goes through that area of town will get a nice little sprucing up in the process, and that area of town has some potential to be something cool.

if it’s going to be a triangle bid vs Charlotte and David Tepper, I gotta say I don’t like Kane’s chances. Tepper is a legit heavyweight with biiiiig ideas.

Yeah, as much as I think Raleigh is a better market for the MLS than Charlotte, having an NFL owner who wants a piece of the MLS pie is a more attractive option.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Hey, we can have teams in both markets when MLS goes to 36 teams.

 

[HisIceness]

Yeah but who will the South Carolinians root for?

 

[Highest Boss]

I mean as someone who went to Flyers and Wings games as a kid I hope he gets it. But it really seems like he should get a franchise first. It kind of seems like:

Malik: Raleigh.
MLS: No.
No one:
Malik: $2 Billion development!